Doll Baby With Vinyl Head, Arms and Legs With a Cloth Body, Molded Hair

This article is virtually anatomy for the xviii" dolls, which includes Historical (and BeForever) Characters, Best Friend Characters, American Daughter (of) Today, Just Like You, My American Daughter, or Truly Me (mod dolls), Girls of the Year, Contemporary Characters, World by The states, and One of a Kind dolls. Other unique doll anatomy (e.g. Bitty Baby/Bitty Twins, WellieWishers, Girls of Many Lands) are each discussed on their respective pages.

The basic body of an American Daughter Doll, as shown with Kit.

The Basic Doll Beefcake article is a summary of the overall blueprint and anatomy features of the American Girl 18" Dolls. While each specific American Girl doll has a unique combination of eye color, hair color and style, skin tone, and confront mold, there is an overall bones beefcake shared among the dolls. This allows every doll to wear whatsoever other doll's clothing fairly well and means that a person is not limited to merely buying wearable designed for his or her specific doll.

one Overall Anatomy and Skin Tones
ii Head
- 2.ane Head Markings
- two.2 Face Paint
- 2.3 Eyes
  - 2.three.one "New" Eyes 2017-2019
- 2.4 Pilus
  - two.4.one Textured Hair
  - 2.4.2 Bald Dolls
  - 2.4.3 Uniquely Colored Hair
  - 2.4.4 Pilus Care
- ii.v Ears
3 Torso
- 3.ane White Body
- 3.2 Trunk Tag
- three.3 Joints
- 3.four Neck Strings and Zip Ties
- 3.v Permanent Underwear
four Arms and Hands
- 4.ane Modified Hands
v Legs and Feet
6 Pleasant Company vs. Mattel
vii Links
viii References

Overall Anatomy and Skin Tones

Dolls are approximately 18" tall from top of caput to base of feet, with vinyl heads and limbs connected to a closely matching cloth torso. The vinyl is designed to be of medium firmness and matte colored.

Each doll is given a specific skin tone from the options available. While named characters are given characterization--and thus race and/or ethnicity--modern dolls such as Truly Me or Create Your Own are not tagged racially so every bit to permit a purchaser to decide for themselves the doll'south race and/or ethnicity.

Slight variations in tone be due to different factories, productions, and vinyl shade variant used over fourth dimension. Initially--at the release of the modern line, the outset line without character race specified--American Daughter classified dolls into one of three tones: Dark, Medium, and Light. Starting in 2018, 3 more tone variants were added, though they are still classified into the three full general tones.^[one] Variations include:

Blue-tone Nighttime (e.thou. Addy, Just Like You one). This has go somewhat depreciated.
Red-tone Night (due east.yard. Sonali, Cécile, and Just Like You 58). This is #thirty tone in the Create Your Own organisation and described equally "deep pare with neutral undertones."
Very Dark (due east.g. Merely Like You 80 and Just Like You lot 85), introduced in 2018. This is #35 tone in the Create Your Own system and described equally "very deep peel with neutral undertones."
Nighttime Medium (east.g. Kaya or Josefina)
Light Medium (e.grand. Just Like Y'all 26 or Lea) This is #twenty tone in the Create Your Own system and described as "tan skin with neutral undertones."
Gilt Medium (e.g. Just Like Y'all 79), introduced in 2018. This is #25 tone in the Create Your Own system and described as "tan skin with warm neutral undertones."
Standard Light (e.one thousand. Samantha, Ivy, and But Similar You 12 or Only Like You 60). This is #10 tone in the Create Your Own system and described as "lite-to-medium skin with warm undertones."
Stake Light (e.g. Blaire and Just Like You lot 78), introduced in 2018. This is #5 tone in the Create Your Own organisation and described every bit "light skin with warm olive undertones."
Grey-tinted (defect)

Some older dolls can have "greyness" or "green" tinted vinyl due to manufacturing plant issues during the 2000-2002 transitional doll catamenia. If a grey-vinyl doll is sent to American Girl for limb replacement, the entire doll is replaced with limbs of the vinyl tone she was designed to have; this is also truthful of older dolls that may not accept parts in older tones (such every bit Kanani). The default Nighttime skin tone has go lighter and more gilded/red toned than the initial bluish-undertoned Dark skin.

The doll'south vinyl can hands stain from night clothing or shoes worn for extended periods of time. Any doll stained by an American Girl product tin be sent in to the American Daughter Hospital at no cost. Some dolls come with their limbs covered in thin clear plastic to avoid vinyl staining from clothing in storage or send.

Caput

The head and limbs are made of vinyl that are made using rotational molding, leaving no seams or marks externally. The faces accept a general overall wait of a young, prepubescent child with wide optics and soft, kittenish features.

The confront mold varies per doll. V molds and then far--the Asian Mold, Marie-Grace Mold, Nanea Mold, Makena Mold, and Corinne Mold--have only been used in one case; the Kaya Mold was previously exclusive to Kaya'aton'my until the release of the Logan Everett doll, but has remained sectional to the graphic symbol later on Logan's retirement. All faces are sculpted to be slightly asymmetrical, similar to homo faces.

The caput has a flared base of operations with a rim at the neckline; the fastener that holds the head to the cloth torso when the cervix strings or zip necktie are tied lays in the groove and keeps the flared base of operations in the torso. Dolls intended to have hair have a rim on the back center of the head and a fine seam around the hairline.

Caput Markings

The Creative person Mark on a #4, behind the right ear.

Near the dorsum lower side of the neck is a copyright stamp, colloquially called a cervix stamp. Older dolls accept "© Pleasant Co" and some have the year. Dolls manufactured after the mid to late 2000s have "© American Girl, LLC"; afterward the mid-2010, this was changed to a lowered "© American Girl". The stamp on the back of the next is dependent on when the face mold was created or updated, non necessarily when the doll debuted or was released. For example, while early versions of the Kaya and Kit dolls are often plant with Pleasant Visitor markings at the neck, dolls were never available under that proper name and then cannot be plant as Pleasant Company dolls.

Some dolls have pocket-size "artist" markings behind i ear, near ofttimes the proper right. These are assumed to be from early in production but cannot be relied on to give a definitive historic period of the doll.

Confront Pigment

The dolls take low-cal blushing on each cheek, lip color--frequently a pink shade, complimenting the skin tone--and the visible front teeth (with the noted exception of the Kaya Mold and molds modified for JLY #74, 75, 76, and 77) painted to add together color to the doll. Pleasant Company dolls have very low-cal face pigment while Mattel dolls accept more than singled-out face paint. The Grace doll was given darker tinted lips than most dolls; this was implied to exist lip gloss, as paired with the lip gloss that came in Grace's Paris Accessories.

Every doll has painted eyebrows, more often than not in a color like to the hair color. They were nearly ever thin straight lines ("straight" brows); The Josefina doll was the first to have "feathered" brows--multiple pocket-size brow lines that were slightly thicker near the median and tapered out to the sides, for a more realistic eyebrow. These were also given to Kaya. For several years subsequently Kaya, dolls could have straight or feathered brows but around the time of the BeForever relaunch most dolls with straight brows had them redone to feathered, and present every doll is given feathered past default.

The World by United states dolls, Nanea, and Corinne have additionally painted eyelashes.

Several dolls take freckles beyond or to the side of the bridge of the nose and over the cheeks. Three types of freckling exist; the one first used on the Kit doll and the one used on the Mia doll are almost mutual. There is also a unique freckling blueprint used for Tenney Grant and Evette Peeters.

Eyes

A disassembled doll middle. L to R: Plastic backing, central eye, metal rim.

Each doll has sleep eyes that shut when the doll is laid downward or tilted backwards.

The optics are fabricated of three parts. The main eye is a one-half circumvolve of molded plastic with attached lashes; in that location are 2 small pegs to allow rotation. The main centre is encased in ii parts. The back is a plastic one-half-dome that the hinges rest in, with a end so the eye cannot rotate back too far. Originally the plastic was blackness only is now either that or a lighter white. Over the front is a metal case with oval shaping.

A removed sleep centre with brownish decal eyes.

The eyes have internal decals or are paw painted to requite the iris color. Eyes are either "pinwheel" style with faint lines behind the coloring or "decal" with a solid base. During the Pleasant Company years, each doll generally had soft eyelashes that closely matched their pilus colour. Mattel replaced this with black plastic eyelashes for all characters; they are manufactured separately from the optics and so glued in.

Eyes can rust around the metal rim or stick if they go moisture, liquid, or glue inside in places. Eyelash Retraction is a defect of the eyelash zipper that is considered a defect and replaced at no cost.

American Girl has released many different eye colors throughout the years. These include:

Light Bluish: get-go used on Kirsten.
Decal Brown/Greyness: commencement used on Samantha but later marketed equally grey on Ivy.
Grey: first used on Molly. This colour was initially marketed every bit "hazel" for the 1995 release of the American Girl of Today dolls. All grey-eyed dolls except Molly were discontinued during the early 2000s considering they were very prone to silverish eyes and later on reintroduced on Ruthie; they are now dominantly available through the Create Your Own arrangement.
Green: first used on Felicity. Mattel's initial light-green middle color was much brighter than the Pleasant Company version, which caused information technology to be critiqued by collectors. In 2009, the shade was toned down significantly.
Dark Brown/Black: first used on Addy. Information technology is much darker than the other eye colors and has almost exclusively been used on the dolls of color.
Brown/Calorie-free Brown: kickoff used in the American Daughter of Today line. It is the well-nigh usually used shade of brownish.
Dark Blueish/Sapphire: first used on Kit.
Hazel/Green: First used on JLY #21. This was marketed as "light-green" on Mia. There have been variant batches of the Hazel optics over the years, with some more yellow/green and others more brown.
Bister/Olive/Low-cal Brown: first used on JLY #26. It was first called "amber", then "light brown", and is now referred to as "brown" by the company.
Aquamarine: merely used on Caroline. No other doll currently has this eye color.
Turquoise: only used on Saige. No other doll currently has this eye color.
Dark Hazel: first used on Maryellen. It is darker than the standard hazel and more than emphasizes the brown, though this may be due to batch differences.
Light Decal Dark-brown: first used on Tenney. It is a brighter brown shade.

Sometime the decals can skin away internally, making the eyes look argent spotted or turn argent altogether, a condition called silver eye. This mostly happens in older dolls. The company considers this a manufacturing defect and will ready this for gratis through the American Daughter Infirmary.

Eyes can be swapped between dolls; nonetheless, most other brands of sleep eyes are not sized properly, then information technology is more often than not recommended to utilize eyes that came from other American Girl dolls or specifically sized for American Daughter past companies. Because of the pattern of the Corinne mold, the doll has has slightly larger eyes, making heart swapping harder equally other eyes are slightly too small.

"New" Eyes 2017-2019

In late 2017, American Girl changed the weights and designs of the eyes. The new eyes were slightly smaller and a more solid plastic piece (sealing off the eye colors) with less metal in the weights, white padding occasionally present behind the eyes. This resulted in in partial visibility of the white pegs at the sides and differently closing and angled eyes. The showtime doll to take the new eyes was Nanea who debuted with them in Baronial 2017; Luciana was released the following year with the new eyes as well. By mid-2018, Truly Me, Create Your Own, and Historical dolls all had these eyes, with later waves of Gabriela, Tenney, and Logan having them (as these dolls were still being sold and manufactured until the cease of 2018); so did some early editions of Blaire dolls in 2019 every bit they had already been manufactured.

Due to widespread consumer displeasure with the redesigned centre style--which often appeared downcast or misaligned compared with the older way optics--American Girl discontinued use of the eyes and offered free "centre commutation" repairs for customers through the American Girl Hospital who were dissatisfied with the new style of optics starting in January 2019. These repairs were offered at no cost until December 31, 2019 and, like dolls sent in for trunk exchanges for "permapanties", were not returned with whatsoever hospital perks in generic paper gowns. The visitor afterward reverted to selling dolls with the older fashion eyes, including later waves of Luciana dolls.

Dolls purchased in 2019 or before are no longer eligible for a no-price eye exchange after Dec 31, 2019; notwithstanding, dolls purchased subsequently the date who are verified to have the undesirable eyes are covered under warranty and tin can be sent in at no cost.

Hair

The pilus of every American Girl doll is a wig made of loftier-quality mod-acrylic fiber hair (once openly stated to be Kanekalon, which was first created by the Kaneka Corporation) sewn to a mesh wig cap that is and then glued onto the head. Any integrated streaks, tints, shade blends, or highlights are created past adding variant colors into the pilus before sewing it to the wig caps. Some dolls have flesh-colored "parts" of vinyl to add together realism to their hair styles; other have sewn, woven, or thatched parts.

Virtually dolls accept silky directly pilus with a slight to moderate curl at the end. Some dolls are given moderately curly hair which is a looser ringlet. Spiral curls such as the ones on #26 or #85 are made from estrus set directly hair. Any doll'due south hair can be temporarily curled using rollers and a wet set; more than permanent curls tin be put in with heat setting such equally a boil wash. Some dolls are released with straight hair that has no ringlet or wave at the end, but this has become rare.

All wigs with a part default as a center part; side parts are made by turning the wig to one side before gluing. Straight hair is generally evened out so equally to appear straight at the edge; curly hair may or may not exist.

Some dolls have modest "curt hairs" interwoven in the back of the wig cap among the longer hairs. When the hair is parted into ponytails or braids, these hairs remain loose and partially cover the mesh wig cap making for a more than realistic looking hairstyle. Both Kirsten and Molly have the brusk hairs, and it is the easiest manner to tell the difference between them and two similar American Girl of Today dolls, Just Similar You 3 and ix; those dolls practice non have the brusk hairs in their wigs.

Dolls who initially come up with their hair in braids or twists (such as Kirsten or Makena's twists) have the ends bluntly cut after styling.

Textured Hair

Textured hair is a coarser Kanekalon hair designed to simulate African straightened hair and has exclusively been used on dolls that are visually directed equally Blackness; though 2 classic mold dolls have had textured hair, they were likewise given tanned peel.

In 2008 the texture was made less thick and prominent for the modern doll line, and can be rather hard to distinguish from older textured hair by sight and touch, being more like to "straight" pilus than that of older dolls.

Baldheaded Dolls

Starting in 2012, bald dolls--those without hair-- were made available, to correspond children without hair. These dolls are sold wigless, and have smooth heads with no indication of a wig attachment applied or guide lines around the hairline.

Uniquely Colored Pilus

American Girl released add-on color streaks for dolls in 2013 with the Bright Highlights Set, later on followed by the Jewel Highlights Set. The first uniquely colored hair color connected to a doll was with Isabelle, who had an boosted strip of blonde hair with pink ends; the strip fastened with small loops integrated in the wig for temporary zipper. She was followed past Luciana, who has a non-removable purple streak on the right side of the caput, and later on Corinne, who has integrated turquoise colors.

Starting in 2020, dolls started to be released with unique "dyed pilus" colors, capitalizing on the electric current trend of children and adults dying or accenting their hair in vivid colors. This was initially launched with #86 and #88, followed afterward by #87. In 2021 three new dolls were released equally function of the Truly Me Street Chic Collection who also had uniquely colored hair in brilliant dye-similar colors, with a 4th in 2022.

In 2020 pink hair was added to the Create Your Own organization, followed past blue and purple in 2021.

Pilus Intendance

American Girl does not recommend styling doll pilus with plastic combs, plastic brushes (which will frizz the hair) or any comb or brush that has been used in homo hair (due to homo pilus oils and dirt being left behind). Hair should be dampened before combing or styling every fourth dimension to prevent impairment. This tin be done with complect spray, water, or a light go out in spray conditioner. The hair should rarely need to be done with proper intendance; however, some dolls may demand a light wash with wig conditioner or mild shampoo after extended use or dirt exposure.

To comb or brush hair, a wig castor, doll brush, or hair selection should be purchased and used exclusively with dolls; American daughter also advises finger crimper for more than curly styles.

The hair tin be damaged, break, frizz, or dry out by improper intendance and styling. Braid spray tin can forbid this. Extreme cases may call for a boil wash to minimize frizz and restore wet; the advice given in fandom on doing a Downy Dunk has been shown to be incorrect and causes more damage to the hair fibers in the long run. Severe damage such equally pilus cuts and massive breakage can just be fixed with rewigging or sending the doll to the American Girl Infirmary for a new head.

Ears

The ears are molded on the side of the head with no openings. The wig is placed and then that the ears are not covered. The Sonali Mold has less detailed ears. The Joss Mold has a larger opening to the ear canal in both ears to adapt Joss's hearing assistance, though the hearing aids specific to Joss are designed to merely fit in the right ear. The ears likewise have the same level of item as the Sonali Mold.

Most dolls have non-pierced ears as a default. Addy Walker was the first doll to have earrings consisting of permanently attached gold loops in each ear; Elizabeth Cole was the first to have removable earrings. Starting in 2008, any modern-line doll could get her ears pierced at purchase if ordered off the website. Otherwise the doll has to either be taken to an American Girl Shop and have the ears pierced at the salon or sent in to the Doll Hospital for improver toll with other services. Any 18" doll may be pierced when sent in to the Hospital or at an American Daughter identify, including Historicals (who are more often than not not eligible on the website at purchase). As of 2022, dolls purchased with pierced ears are ineligible for refund.

Isabelle Palmer was the outset Daughter of the Twelvemonth to have whatever ear piercing offered at buy; Grace was the offset to have unique to her earrings offered. The holes are sized for American Girl earrings and so are bigger than standard human posts. Some collectors prefer to pierce a doll's ears themselves so they are not limited to American Girl earrings only.

Every bit of 2012, any eighteen" doll tin can accept hearing aids placed in either the left, right, or both ears via the Hospital. These are placed and then every bit not to block earrings, so a doll can have both.

Trunk

The torso is made of cotton fiber cloth and stuffed with polyester fiberfill. It is made to lucifer the skin tone of the doll'due south vinyl. There are shaping darts across the bottom as well.

White Trunk

When the kickoff three dolls--Samantha, Molly, and Kirsten--debuted, the torsos for the dolls were made of white cloth; the designed wearing apparel covered the cloth bodies completely with high necks and, historically, did not have short sleeveless designs or visible middles.

With the debut of Felicity and colonial clothing'south historically lower necklines, the trunk tone was changed to preclude dramatic mismatch in head and body tone; this resulted in the trunk textile being made in colors that closer matched the vinyl of the limbs and head so every bit not to stand out dramatically.

Body Tag

Early Pleasant Company dolls had pocket-sized body tags stating that they were fabricated in Germany for Pleasant Company. These were phased out when the company shifted production to China.

Since Mattel's buying, each doll has come with a torso tag sewn onto the right side of the cloth torso. The text was originally as follows:

Made in China Exclusively for American Daughter Middleton, WI 53562

Several tags had typos that said "American Gril". While at that place was a number imprinted on the tags too, it was a part number for the doll and non the year of industry (most say "2008").

Starting in 2014, dolls started to come with longer body tags; these have the American Daughter Logo, the yr, and a Registration number. They also state that the doll is made with all new content in China, stuffed with polyester cobweb, and are surface washable (in English language, French, and formerly Spanish). The other side of the tag contains information near content and that the dolls are made in Red china, also repeated in French.

Dolls fabricated between 2000 and 2009 accept an boosted internal torso tag sewn into the correct shoulder indicating the month and year of industry.

Joints

The joint cups for the arms and legs are made of vinyl and sewn into the torso tightly. This allows for free move of the joints.

The limbs are fastened to the torso by means of tightly pulled elastic cords. Inside each limb and the internal torso are minor white semi-circle caps that were originally clamped tight with metal flanks. This allows the doll's limbs to turn and hold positions without moving and stand up freely. When the rubberband cord starts to lose its elasticity, the arms and legs will no longer hold position and may consequence in the doll being unable to stand or sit. The doll is then considered to exist "floppy" and in need of restringing. This can either be washed through the American Girl Hospital or by various people who take learned to do information technology themselves; temporary tightening tin exist done with rubber bands or pilus bands internally, just this is a terminate-gap solution.

As of 2009, metal flanks have been removed and the elastic cord is simply knotted on both ends. This tin upshot in limbs going floppier sooner; many personal restringers will use clamped metallic flanks and add additional washers to keep limbs tight.

Neck Strings and Nil Ties

The heads were originally attached to the cloth torso by means of a thin cervix channel through which cotton cord was run through and then knotted. The ends of the cord which are left to dangle down are referred to equally "neck strings"; cutting these brusque can loosen the knot and lead to the caput falling off.

In the early 2010s, heads began to be attached with plastic nil ties through the neck channel after returning from the American Girl Hospital. Afterwards initial protest, the visitor went back to neck strings, which meant that heads could be fastened with either cervix strings or plastic nil ties.

The Lea doll was released with no neck strings; she had a aught necktie attached head with the end opening over the tunnel sewn completely close, limiting access to the tie. This was too done with the Melody doll, which unsaid (and was later confirmed) this as the method being used for dolls going frontwards. Zip ties were mainstreamed, as American Daughter expanded outside of the US and had to comply with international toy testing requirements that required secure difficult-to-remove head zipper. The seam tin be opened and the zip tie cut free, but it volition so need to be replaced with either a threaded cord or a new zip necktie.

35th Anniversary Special Edition Dolls come up with neck strings to evoke the original designs.

Permanent Underwear

In February 2017, American Daughter announced on Facebook that bodies for the Truly Me dolls, as well as Maryellen, Melody, Julie, and Contemporary Character dolls would have permanent panties/underwear as part of their design.^[2] American Girl stated the change was to keep to provide quality products within price points, though there were collector concerns that expansion into conservative Center Eastern countries was the motivation for the alter and several people felt the quality in the trunk construction was diminished.

The permanent underwear, or "permapanties," were done by changing the trunk blueprint so that the lower half of the textile was made of pale pinkish fabric (the color of the vinyl joint cups in the hips did not change) and, to signify the "top" of the permanent underwear, a thin satin ribbon with the American Girl logo. This likewise resulted in the removal of shaping lesser darting, which could result in oddly shaped "bottoms" when stuffing was shifted, seams were uneven, or stuffing was packed differently or thinner.

Following widespread negative client feedback and media outcry, American Girl made the decision to revert back to having dolls come with separate underwear in May 2017.^[three] Only the three BeForever dolls, some Truly Me, all initially released Z Yang dolls, and some later Tenney dolls were afflicted.

Customers who previously purchased dolls with permanent panties were eligible for a one-time, free body exchange to accept the dolls' bodies retrofitted with the conventional torsos (the entire body was swapped) until December 2018. Contemporary characters and modern dolls were returned with a pair of generic panties similar to those that came with the Lilac Dress, while the iii BeForever Characters were returned with standard white panties; Julie dolls were not returned with the purple panties that come up in her 2nd see outfit.

Arms and Easily

The arms and easily are made of vinyl with curved cups at tiptop to fit in the torso joint cup. The hands have modest molded nails and defined lines to simulate the folds where finger joints are naturally. The thumb and fingers are curled in slightly; the fingers are splayed, with the ring and middle finger fused and the pointer finger slightly fused to the middle. The pinky is divide. There are two lines on the palm. The curled fingers allow the dolls to "concord" various items.

Starting with Mattel dolls, arms (and legs as well) had the inner joints marked with small asterisk-stars on the molds under the arm articulation. Starting in 2018, the inner underarm of dolls had code numbers imprinted inside the arm. While mostly hidden, they are visible when the limb is flexed and turned.

Modified Easily

Modified correct hand on the Tenney Grant doll.

In 2017, the Tenney and Logan dolls were released with modified right easily that accept pinched in fingers, assuasive them to hold items in their drove without additional plastic grips or handles.

Legs and Anxiety

The legs are attached to the torso the same way as the arms, with curved cups at top to fit in the torso joint cup. There are indentation to betoken knees. The toes are defined with modest nails and the soles of the anxiety are smooth and apartment.

Create Your Own dolls have, on the sole of the right foot, a gold thumbprint Star logo and Ane of a kind in white scripted lettering.

Pleasant Company vs. Mattel

The bodies were slimmed down overall in the Mattel era in the bodies, arms, and legs. The clothing was redesigned to fit the newer doll torso shape. This means that newer outfits may fit tighter on older dolls, and shoes may not fit properly.

References

↑ Here on the Wiki, the variant tones remain classified into the original 3 categories.
↑ Facebook statement, accessed Feb 10, 2017.
↑ Facebook statement, accessed May 22, 2017.

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Source: https://americangirl.fandom.com/wiki/Basic_Doll_Anatomy